Hi all!  Sorry that I haven’t been updating all that often.  With Rob in the field and and the puppy, things are a bit hectic for me.  Codiak’s been sick since yesterday morning and we had to make an emergency visit to the vet this afternoon.  He got two shots and some medication that I have to give to him twice a day until it’s gone.  Codiak’s a walking stomach, so I assume that he ate something that his sensitive tummy couldn’t handle.  I caught him today scratching in the dirt and he found Gizmo’s cathole…and Casey’s not ill, so it’s not something that’s contagious!

Anyway, there’s not much else going on here.  I’m watching season 2 of the Simpson’s and I’m actually getting ready to go to bed, but I’d like to sleep in a tad tomorrow morning (we all know that THAT’S not going to happen, but I’m allowed to dream!)

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

I’m feeling quite good!  Rob and I ordered my VERY first NEW car!  EVAR!  So excited!  It’s a 2009 Mellow Yellow Mini Clubman with black hood bonnets and checkered upholstery!  I’m so excited.  We ordered it on Friday and it should be ready for pick up in late October!  I can not wait until we get it!

I am just so EXCITED, can you tell???

Well, anyway, I can’t stay long because T and J are headed over here for dinner on their way back from Paris and I need to get Rob packed for the field–he leaves tomorrow—blah–at least he only has to go play in the mud for 4 days!  😀

Well, gotta run!  Thanks for reading and have a GREAT Sunday!

My husband ticked me off yesterday, but I’m getting better.  Sleep helped, as I suspected it might.  Still upset, but getting better.

Thanks for the nice comments yesterday.  They made me feel better when I saw them this morning.

Casey and Codi are playing tug-o-war.  Codi is nearly 20 pounds!  A little more than 5 pounds heavier than his big brother.  Casey is still trying to assert his dominance in the house, but I already know who’s going to be top dog!  Codi is letting Casey win some of the battles, but could totally take Casey out if he wanted to!  They are pretty fun to watch!

I’ve got some video footage, but it’s still raw and I haven’t got the energy to work on it right now.  Maybe this weekend…

Anyway, thanks for reading.  Hope everyone’s day is going well.  TTFN

…is for a little respect!  IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR?

I’M DONE!

Well, all of my house guests have left and I am feeling a bit sad.  I’m sure that in a few days, I’ll be okay, but for today, I guess I’m a bit melancholy.

There’s nothing else to say for right now.

I promise to read everyone’s posts in my reader this week, but it’s not going to happen today, anyway.  Thanks for being so patient with me!

Just wanted to let you know that Irrational Exposure has been updated with new and fun pictures!

Hi all.  I’m still on a bit of a hiatus, mainly due to the fact that I now have 4 animals (one of whom is a house-guest) and 3 guests staying here, there simply isn’t time enough to do regular updates.  I know that many of you are curious about how things are going with the new pup, so let me give you a glance into my irrational world!

Codiak (and Casey) go out to potty every hour on the hour.  We are not kennel training, nor are we using puppy pads.  I’m home all day, so no excuse to kennel train.  At night, every 3 hours.  The rule is: the number of months + 1 = the number of hours the puppy can hold his bladder.  As he gets older, we will be able to go longer and longer.

Puppies chew and they especially love computer cords.  I have to spray them down, at least daily, sometimes a couple of times a day with a bitter apple spray.  It does seem to work.  There is a bit of sibling rivalry going on and if Codiak gets a bone, Casey will want the same bone that he’s got.  There’s been a couple of growling matches and it seems that Codiak has won most, but not all.  We’re still wondering who’s going to end up as the alpha (my guess is Codiak because Casey isn’t usually, but we’ll just have to wait and see.  I don’t treat Casey any different than Codiak–which I’ve read that if you have an older dog you SHOULD treat the older dog different.  I want them to decide who’s going to be dominate, but if I had my druthers about it…)

Sometimes, throughout the day, I think to myself, WHAT ON EARTH WAS I THINKING?  having two dogs (both are puppies, but one doesn’t understand and know the rules yet…there’s so many to LEARN!!)  It’s been a little bit stressful at times.  Meal times are hard, especially for just one person.  The dogs MUST be separated otherwise Codiak will eat Casey’s food!  That one was pretty easy for us to figure out.  The thing that’s been a little difficult is that Codiak will not give any indication that he has to go potty and then, go.  Casey will then pee right on top of it.  Of course they both get shouted at if we catch them, but if we don’t see them do it, there is nothing that can be done about it.  I’ll give it to Codiak, though, he’s really good about going potty outside when I take him out.  It took a long time to get Casey that reliable.

Anyway, it’s time to get going.  I’ll post pictures (and possibly a video or two) later.

Just a side note, the bitter apple spray DOES work.  Codi was just trying to chew the cords that have been sprayed and IMMEDIATELY jerked his head away with a look of disgust!  Yeeeeh! Our cords are saved!

I had THE best conversation tonight with my friend.  Oh my goodness, how I’ve missed her.  She’s a no-hold’s bar kind of lady and she’s pretty much told me what she thought that I should do career-wise.  I’m so not saying, because I’m not sure that it’s that far from my reach.  It’s something that I want to consider but so way out of left field that you’d wonder where it came from.  So until I get more information, I’m not saying one way or the other–only that I’m going to take her opinion into strong consideration.

From an insider point of view it might seem ironic, but oh well.  It just might be a means to an end, so it’s worth looking into.

She also mentioned something that I didn’t consider about other possibilities, career-wise and she makes a great case.  Why she became a Social Worker and not an attorney, I’ll never know–oh, wait, yeah, I remember…lol!

So, the first night and day went very well.  Can’t get her step-mom out of my kitchen to save my life, but I can’t tell her no.  And anyway, she just L.O.V.E.S. my kitchen and I knew she would!  Everyone loves it!l

Casey has done so well with the new cat in the house.  The cat has done so well with the dog, but Gizmo has not done so well with the new addition, but the new addition is so sweet that he tries to make friends with Gizmo, but understands the limits, even though he won’t make a move in Gizmo’s presence.  Elric WANTS to be friends, but Gizmo may very well be set in his ways.  I don’t know how he’ll handle the arrival of Codiak.  That worries me a bit.  I have no idea if that made any sense at all…but I understand it completely.

Well, tomorrow is going to be a long day.  We’ve got a Battery Picnic and AFTB Level 1, part 1 (Army Family Team Building) starting super early and of course that means I have to be up SUPER early!  Afterwards, we have the Battalion Steering Committee meeting.  Joy.  I don’t know what we’re steering, but, whatever…

Thanks for reading.  More updates later.

What is a MILITARY Wife?  They may look different and each is wonderfully unique, but this they have in common:

-Lots of moving

-Moving some more

-Moving even more

-Moving far from her hometown

-Often moving two cars, three kids and one dog—-all riding with HER of course

-Moving sofas to basements because they won’t go in THIS house

-Moving curtains that won’t fit

-Moving jobs and certifications and professional development hours

-Moving away from friends, moving toward new friends

-Moving her most important luggage; her trunk full of memories

-Often waiting-Waiting, waiting, waiting for housing; waiting for orders; waiting
for deployment; waiting for reunion; waiting for the precious 5 or 10 minute phone call; waiting for that 3 sentence email; waiting for the new curtains to arrive; waiting for him to come home for dinner—-AGAIN!

-They call her ‘military dependent,’ but she knows better

-She can balance a checkbook

-Handle the yard work

-Fix a noisy or overflowing toilet

-She is intimately familiar with drywall, anchors, and toggle bolts

-She can file the taxes, sell a house, buy a car, or set up a move, and all with one Power of Attorney

-She welcomes neighbors that don’t welcome her

-Reinvents her career with every PCS; locates a house in the desert, the arctic, or the deep south and learns to call them all ‘home’

-She MAKES them all home

-She is fiercely IN-dependent

-Military wives are somewhat hasty

-They leap into decorating, leadership, volunteering, career alternatives, churches and friendships

-They don’t have 15 years to get to know people, often just two or three

-Their roots are short but flexible

-They plant annuals for themselves and perennials for those who come after them

-Military wives quickly learn to value each other

-They connect over coffee, rely on the spouse-network, accept offers of friendship and favors and record addresses in pencil

-Military wives have a common bond

-The military wife has a husband unlike other husbands his commitment is unique.
-He doesn’t have a job, he has a ‘mission’ he can’t just decide to quit he’s on-call for his country 24/7 but for you, he’s the most unreliable guy in town!

-His language is foreign
TDY, PCS, OPR, LDO, PSD, ACC, BDU, TAD, EDO

-A military wife is a translator for her family and his.
-She is the long-distance link to keep them informed the glue that holds them together

Military Wife has her moments—-

-She wants to wring his neck, dye his uniform pink, and refuse to move to Siberia, but she pulls herself together.

-Give her a few days, a travel brochure, a long hot bath, a pledge to the flag, and a wedding picture. And she goes. She packs. She moves. She follows.
Why? What for? How come? You may think it is because she has lost her mind. But actually it is because she has lost her heart. It was stolen from her by a man, a man who puts duty first and country first, longs to deploy, who salutes the flag, and whose boots in the doorway remind her that as long as he is her Military Husband, and she will remain his Military Wife.